So heading to Panama city Beach FL in March and im thinking about bringing my surf rods. Im a New England live Striped Bass catching surf guy and I know absolutely nothing about surf fishing in FL so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hey, sorry if this is out of place but I figured someone here probably has a lot of info on this. Thanks!

Frustrated.

Tonight, things sorts hit the fan with me. I was a part of an epic bite. The stripers were feasting on everything being thrown. Bottle plugs, SP Minnows, darters, diamond jigs, needles …. I was in the midst of all of this throwing virtually the same lures.

Most of the group, both to the right and left were on fish all night.. I caught 1 and it was foul hooked. I had a few strong hits, lost 2, and some taps, but nothing on the sand.

It’s sorta been like this. Although I’ve been on fish, it’s always been the low end of what’s being caught. A few weeks ago, 3 anglers on a night where ~20 stripers were caught, I had 1.

Too easy to say, I suck. I just can’t figure out what I should be changing.

I

Got a nice Corvina on a 5” glide bait before class :)

I’ve been down to Oregon Inlet a few times with no luck. I drive out at Ramp 4 and typically head a bit south (never too far, though, because it gets crowded quickly) and fish cut mullet on a Fish Finder rig. I’m heading down Thursday and Friday, hoping to turn my luck around. I’ll be camping at the campground Thursday night, and I’m willing to wake up extra early Friday to secure a spot closer to the mouth of the inlet. As a surf fishing newbie, I’m looking for any additional advice on how to assess this beach in particular for better luck. Also looking for recommendations on spots to throw my cast net for bait in the vicinity. Any insight is much appreciated.

Alright I know this question gets asked everyday but I’m in the market and value the experience of strangers.

TLDR: searching for new 12ft bait and wait rods value cast distance, sensitivity for pompano hits, and durability for transport. $100 price range

I just moved down to the florida panhandle and i’m putting some money into surf fishing. I am a bait and wait guy targeting pompano and happy to take on any bycatch. Maybe i’ll target something larger later down the road.

I’ll throw premade or hand tied pompano rigs/mortician. Typically with a 3-4oz. Pyramid sinker.

I have two fb marketplace rods both 10ft. Daiwa mh beefstick with penn wrath II, and daiwa mh emcast with penn pursuit IV. I definitely like the feel of the emcast rod and casting motion.

I’m looking to add two rods to the fleet, they’ll be paired with penn fierce III 4000 series. They’ll be used for bait and wait and never for active casting. I am planning to use these to reach out just a bit further than the 10fts, and provide a bit more lift when grass is bad.

I value casting distance, sensitivity to show the bites, but also durability is going to be important. I have the rhino rack ski/snowboard/fishing rod rack and I plan to mount these rods horizontal on the top of my car tip into the wind during transport traveling at maybe 50mph. They’ll probably have 6ft or more of overhang of the last support. Also open to feedback on if that is way too much to ask of a rod.

Would love to keep it around the $100/each range but open to more less. And would prefer get two of the same rods.

Hello everyone. A friend of mine gave me a Daiwa Iso Kaze 3-45 surf rod. It is 14ft long. I paired it with a Daiwa Revros 3000 LT-CXH reels. I want to use the same setup as shown in the photo. Please recommend how many pounds should I use for my Main Line, how many grams for my sinker, the size that I need to use for my swivel, how many pounds to use for my fluorocarbon leader line and the size of the hook that I need to use. Mostly used in the beach and pier. Thank you so much.

So I'm looking for an 8' rod, rated for I guess medium heavy, for casting lures up to say 3oz. It's not going to see a ton of use, so I'm looking for something rather inexpensive, but decent quality. My heavy old fiberglass rods with old Penn SS series reels are just getting too heavy for my old elbows and shoulders. Gonna buy a lighter 6000 size reel to put on it. Not a long surf butt, just like a boat rod, 14" or so from the reel seat to butt end. Can anyone recommend I line of rods I should look at? Thanks

Would a PENN Fathom II size 25N, 30, or 40N lever drag reel pair with a PENN Carnage III 13 ft Ulua Surf Conventional Surf Rod? Or do these lever drag reels pair better with a 12 ft conventional surf rod?

I’m trying to target bigger sharks off the surf, including Soupfin sharks, thresher sharks, and Sevengill Sharks, as well as other larger sharks and big game fish when I head over to Florida in the winter.

Not big examples, just examples. The Galjoen is South Africa's national fish and endemic to Southern Africa. It would have been incredible on the braai/BBQ tomorrow if it wasn't currently out of season 🥲

A slow day on the Surfside Beach Jetty. Great looking water with a 74°F water temp, not horrible winds but the bite was miserable. I did see four Bull Reds get pulled up off the channel side on bottom rigs. Largest Red was 41" and tagged for eating. I managed 3x Mangrove Snapper and this Pompano at sunset on small pieces of fresh dead shrimp and a Owner Mosquito 1/0 Circle hook under a jetty cork. When the Mangrove are biting, it feels like catching super sized Bluegills. The Pompano was an even better fight. I did hook up something big, but a guy next to me got hooked up at same time and his fish tangled with mine and we both broke off. That's jetty fishing. First time doing a Pompano catch & Cook. Any suggestions on cooking it? I filleted the Pompano around the head and left skin on. I was surprised by the firmness of the fillet. Looks like it'll be tastey.

Taking my son surf fishing tomorrow. We've always used squid but my son wants to try using live ghost shrimp. Should we be using a dropper loop or carolina rig? Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance!

The surf was rough and definitely wouldve liked something other than catfish

I recently picked up a 9.6 ft. Noeby travel jigging rod that I plan to use as my all-rounder travel surf/jetty/pier rod. I've been looking at several reel options but don't know what would fit my rod the best. I'll primarily be fishing on the East Coast, would want something sealed and around 150 to 200 bucks. So far I've had my eye on the following:

Shimano Spheros 5000 HG Penn Battle IV Tsumani Shield Ii Daiwa BG

Hey guys,Im an Industrial design student and Ive been fishing alot of salt lately! The season has been great but Ive been getting more and more pooped by the end of the day when i have to clean everything up and organize. I've been getting lazy and my tools are getting rusty lol. Also if u can i have a survey asking questions about specifics cause it could make for a really nice project! either way, thanks!!! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5HUWYtgA2ppwapeO9o42R_Xx4AKWSlpKfbwbOR5uOb4m1uw/viewform?usp=dialog

Pompano fishermen: what hook type and size are you actually using, and why?

I've been experimenting with different hook styles and sizes on my pompano rigs and I'm curious what everyone else has settled on.

I've generally leaned toward 2/0 wide-gap circle hooks, but I see plenty of people swear by smaller circles, Kahles, and even traditional J-hooks. I'm giving 3/0 Kahle a run with spinning floats on some new rigs... but the hooks feel a bit big to me.

For those of you who regularly target pompano in the surf:

- What hook type and size has worked best for you?

- Have you noticed a difference in hookup rates or missed bites?

- Do you change hook size depending on bait?

I'm fishing the Texas Gulf Coast, mostly around North Padre and PINS. Typically running shrimp and fishbites but ill use fresh ghost shrimp when they're around too. (The kids love using the ghost shrimp plunger more than fishing itself it seems...)

Interested in hearing what people are having the most 1st hand experience success with.

What's up, y'all?

I've been reading up a bit about the state of the striped bass fishery on the East Coast and feeling some guilt. Generally, I'm of the opinion that it's pretty hard to catch a slot-sized fish. If I do happen across one and manage to land it, I don't necessarily have an issue with keeping it, as long as it all gets eaten.

I guess I'm curious how y'all navigate this question of fishing for fish that aren't doing so hot overall.

Also, I realize there's a lot of guys out there that aren't following the rules, not to mention commercial fishing and gillnetting.

Should I just keep bluefish and porgy and let the striped bass go?